In a secondary battery for backup or power supply in various types of equipments, or such automotive battery as lead storage battery, it has long been required to exactly determine a remaining electrical charge. In a secondary battery, since the charged rate in general correlates with an open circuit voltage, it is possible to calculate the charged rate from the open circuit voltage. However, it is necessary to measure the open circuit voltage under the condition in which neither charge nor discharge is executed. In addition, it takes long time until the open circuit voltage becomes stable after finishing the charge or discharge. Thus, various methods are proposed for measuring the open circuit voltage in a short time of the secondary battery under the specific condition to obtain a convergent value of the open circuit voltage based on a function approximating time characteristic of the open circuit voltage. (For instance, refer to JP07-098367, JP2002-234408 and JP2003-075518)